Cellular and wireless communication devices, such as smartphones, have seen explosive growth over the past several years. This growth has been fueled by better communications hardware, larger networks, and more reliable protocols. Today's smartphones include cameras, GPS receivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, and of course the cellular communication capabilities (e.g., LTE, 3G and/or 4G network access) to enable the devices to establish data communication links with the Internet. Smartphones are now very widely deployed in society. Additionally, the components and capabilities in smartphones are now very affordable, enabling the capabilities to be deployed in other types of devices.
There are many uses for a device that can report when the device has been moved or is moving. On application is for determining location-based functionality—as long as computing device remains in a particular location (e.g., on the desk), it need not change its security or other settings. Another application is as a theft detector that sends a signal when it is being moved that a service can track. The use of GPS sensors for these applications may be expensive overkill.